1756, translating German heimweh, from Heim "home" + Weh "woe, pain;" the compound is from Swiss dialect, expressing the longing for the mountains. The word was introduced to other European languages 17c. by Swiss mercenaries. Also see nostalgia.

Old English hamstede "home, town, village," from home (n.) + stead (q.v.). In U.S. usage, "a lot of land adequate for the maintenance of a family" (1690s), defined by the Homestead Act of 1862 as 160 acres. Hence, the verb, first recorded 1872. Homesteader also is from 1872.

"the killing of another person," early 13c., from Old French homicide, from Latin homicidium "manslaughter," from homo "man" (see homunculus) + -cidium "act of killing" (see -cide). The meaning "person who kills another" (late 14c.) also is from French, from Latin homicida "a murderer," from -cida "killer."

late 14c., omelye, from Old French omelie (12c., Modern French homélie), from Church Latin homilia "a homily, sermon," from Greek homilia "conversation, discourse," used in New Testament Greek for "sermon," from homilos "an assembled crowd," from homou "together" (from PIE *somo-, from root *sem- (1) "one, as one, together with;" see same) + ile "troop" (cognate with Sanskrit melah "assembly," Latin miles "soldier"). Latinate form restored in English 16c.

1802, in William Turton's translation of Linnæus, coined in Modern Latin from Latin homo "man" (technically "male human," but in logical and scholastic writing "human being;" see homunculus) + sapiens, present participle of sapere "be wise" (see sapient). Used since in various Latin or pseudo-Latin combinations intended to emphasize some aspect of humanity, as in Henri Bergson's Homo faber "man the tool-maker," in "L'Evolution Créatrice" (1907). Homo as a genus of the order Primates is first recorded 1797.

1810, a method of signaling, from homo- (1) "same" + -graph "something written." Meaning "a word of identical spelling with another, but of different origin and meaning, is from 1873. Related: Homographic; homography.

"a word spelled and pronounced the same as another but different in meaning," 1807, from French homonyme and directly from Latin homonymum (Quintilian), from Greek homonymon, neuter of homonymos, from homos "same" (see homo- (1)) + onyma, dialectal form of onoma "name" (see name (n.)).

"a word pronounced the same as another (whether spelled the same or not) but different in meaning," 1843, from the adjective homophone (1620s), from Greek homos "same" (see homo- (1)) + phone "sound" (see fame (n.)). Related: Homophonic.

"Homosexual" is a barbarously hybrid word, and I claim no responsibility for it. It is, however, convenient, and now widely used. "Homogenic" has been suggested as a substitute. [H. Havelock Ellis, "Studies in Psychology," 1897]

Sexual inversion (1883) was an earlier clinical term for it in English. The noun is recorded by 1895. In technical use, either male or female; but in non-technical use almost always male. Slang shortened form homo first attested 1929. See also uranian.